Sunday Morning Chat: Cleveland Indians’ Yan Gomes

Sunday morning chat is back in 2015, and HSBN has a treat in week one! Cleveland Indians catcher Yan Gomes is quickly becoming one of the hottest rising stars in the game. Before he was a Major League star, Gomes played his high school ball locally first at Miami Palmetto and then at Miami Southridge.

With pitchers and catchers close to reporting for Spring Training, Yan spent some time with HSBN senior writer Rick Duteau to talk about life in the big leagues, playing for “Tito” Francona, and his high school days. Today we bring you Part I of this Sunday Morning Chat. Enjoy!

Rick: We are going to get started. Yan, tell us a little bit about your experience on here playing at Miami Southridge.

Yan Gomes: Well before Southridge, going to South Ridge started, I played my first year at Palmetto. My freshman year was at Palmetto High School. I played there and, in a way I felt like many families were moving so I needed to go to a different school and Southridge just happened to be a huge blessing to me. You know, I go there and the baseball program was really going well and I just fell in right there. Fred Burnside and Eddie Doscow really helped me out and all the coaching staff, so it was great. It was a fun time, though. We had a really good team, a lot of talent playing there so it was a big time in my career, the path to my career.

Rick: Do you keep in touch with either of those coaches?

Yan Gomes: I do try to keep in touch as much as I can with some of the players but it’s kind of tough, we all have different schedules and busy lifestyles. I do keep in touch with Doscow. I have lost touch with Burnside. You know, he’s a South Dade guy now, so…

Rick: You took a very interesting path to the major leagues, one we feel players down here need to know about: your signing at the University of Tennessee. You got drafted in the 39th round by the Red Sox, turned the offer down and attended Barry University. Did you realize the risk you were taking at that time, to leave a top D1 program, turning down a major league team in order to come to play at Barry?

Yan Gomes: Um, I did. I did and you know things at Tennessee in a way weren’t working out. I felt like I had a better opportunity if I went somewhere else. I mean, no hard feelings with Tennessee, I still love it there. I live there. But, I knew I had to make a change, I knew I had to decide something and Barry came to me. Me and a buddy of mine, Danny Lima, who played at Florida Christian, he ended up deciding to go to Barry and I knew I had to make a big impact because, nothing against the Division II schools, but I knew going from a Division I to a Division II, maybe people thought that I couldn’t cut it in Division I. So I tried to go down, but it was a hard task to fill. You know we had to set a limit at home, so that was nice, but I had to really show that I could play. I ended up having a really good year and I thank the coaches there so much, like every day. It ended up working out. I think that is God’s way of showing that you just stick to His plan and not try to take control of it and it’s going to go well.

Rick: After having the big success at Barry, you again were drafted, this time in the 10th round by Toronto. What was that feeling like knowing that again you had a chance to chase your dream?

Yan Gomes: In playing terms, it is a dream come true. You know, I got drafted in the 39th round the year before but, it was a sign that I wasn’t ready. You know, God was telling me that I wasn’t ready to do it. I wasn’t mature enough, obviously because I had that tendency. But, I think, the time that I had at Barry, I really grew, and once I got drafted, in my mind I knew that I was ready. And, it was such an unbelievable opportunity and I know that if we talked to my parents about it right now that they will still cry about it the day that I was drafted. It was just exciting, really excitement. I was so ready to get out there and get everything going, and then that path that I took, and I knew it wasn’t easy, but it helped me.

Rick: Tell us what you would tell high school players today, many of whom will go through the same roller coaster ride along the way that you have experienced.

Yan Gomes: Stick to your goals, man. Get yourself the mindset that you never want to settle at one place. Even though I was transferring from Tennessee to Barry, I wasn’t just happy to be there. My ultimate goal was to be successful, whatever I was doing, and that’s the same thing throughout the minor leagues. You know, I always had the biggest thing in my mind was that I always feel like there was someone working harder than me and in my mind, it doesn’t settle well. I try to get everything that I can, every day and go to sleep knowing that I worked hard that day.

Rick: Coaches love all that.

Yan Gomes: I mean, it was engraved in my mind, probably from the way my parents raised me. It was, back to the kids, it was more the focus part. There’s a lot of distractions when you get to money and you want to enjoy that lifestyle but, you know, all that lifestyle you live at now, it’s going to be so much more fun when you are in the Major Leagues. I can vouch for that because you get a lot of better places, but it’s a big thing, going through the transitions through the minor leagues. A lot of distractions come around and, I think once you set your goal on making it to the Major Leagues, and not just settling in one place, I think, to me, in my mind, is good advice.

Rick: Not many people know this but, you are the first Brazilian born player ever in the major leagues. How much pride do you take in that, and how much does that mean to Brazil?

Yan Gomes: Honestly, at first, I had no idea. I had no idea what was going on and it wasn’t even in my mind that I had made it, because it was still going through my mind that way once I got to AAA. There was talk about it and it came up a little more, and I got called up and still to this day that is one moment that gives me chills to even think about it. You know, I get to Toronto and it just happens to be another country, too, that I get to get to play for. There was somebody holding a sign saying, “Welcome Gomes” with the Brazilian flag and it definitely hit me. It hit me that for such a huge country, even known for their athletics in soccer and all these other sports, I was the first one at probably the main sport in our country, compared to football and basketball, it was amazing and getting the calls coming in from family members and papers out in Brazil. It took me a while to realize what I had done. Again, it is a way of God showing that the blessings He has put in my life and what I do with Him now is what matters. I have a huge platform to show that Brazil is on the map and it is a humbling experience and I’m ready to kind of show that. And I thank everybody every day for it.

Rick: In July 2013 you had to face Andre Reinzo, the first ever Brazilian born pitcher in the majors. What was that experience like?

Yan Gomes: It’s funny, because I was actually just talking a couple of days ago with my buddies about it. And another guy that plays for a different team was saying that he watched that game. I was like, ‘What are you doing watching my game?’ He said that they were flying and they heard it was a big deal and it was happening. I mean, again, to have two players from the same country facing each other for the first time, I guess here obviously it doesn’t really mean that much because there are so many Americans playing, but for Brazil to have now two guys and how fast that happened. It’s amazing, you know, one year there’s one guy and the next year, there’s two guys. It’s growing and it’s funny because I still remember that day and I still talk to Reinzo about it. We both kind of stepped up and gave a little bit of a head nod and were like, ‘Alright, man, game on; we are playing against each other now’. I ended up getting a big hit the first at bat and it was such a little dribbler up the middle, but to the both of us, it was a historic moment for our country.

Rick: You have a bunch of relationships here in Miami, one being with Gabe here at South Florida Rehab and training center. Gabe, his staff, and his wife Yolanda have become heavily involved with High School Baseball Network and developing players down here in Miami. Tell me a little bit about that relationship.

Yan Gomes: I don’t think Gabe even knows how thankful I am for being introduced to him. It was in 2005, I ended up having, for a young kid, a heartbreaking injury, like the famous Tommy Johns surgery. I ended up blowing out my arm going into my senior year of high school and, man, that was tough. I was crying every day because I was in the midst of signing with Tennessee and I didn’t if my career was done. I had never been injured before and I was introduced to Gabe and it was almost like, I felt different. He took such control of my injury, he took control of my surgery and I was back to the same in 8-9 months, and that usually isn’t normal. I was playing that next summer after my surgery, and that wasn’t normal. It normally takes a full year or even more than that. I am so thankful for what they did for me. Still to this day we try and talk as much as we can and we are still good to go. For what they are doing for kids out here, it just shows what is in their heart and they really care about the sports down here in Miami. I am so thankful; I mean he has helped so much with my family. My parents are in sports; he has done so much for them. It just shows what is in their hearts and how much they care about the sport. That’s great. They need people like that out here.

Rick: It seems like you telling me about the experience with them, that he helped you a lot with the mental end of it as much as the physical end of it, which a lot of times in rehab that gets overlooked. What was that part of it like, having a guy that set your mind at ease more than helping your body come back together?

Yan Gomes: I was a young kid that didn’t know what the heck was going on with my body. My arm, I could barely pick up my arm and couldn’t squeeze my hand. And to him it was normal, the kind of thing that happens. But, I was panicking and he was able to take full control of my rehab. I still remember to this day, we were in a different location, and I remember I was getting unbelievable workouts. I was doing everything I could to get my body stronger. I ended up having a better year that next year. I mean we worked so hard at it, and my arm came back really healthy. It was a comfort level. To this day, I don’t take that rehab assignment for granted. From what I learned then, I can teach or help other guys now with that experience I had with Gabe, you know guys that go through that kind of injury, because a lot of guys do end up going through an injury like that. I end up telling them don’t focus so much on your elbow, work on your shoulder, and I learned a lot from that time and I still use it.

Rick: One of the interesting aspects of your career so far is that your manager, Terry Francona, was part of the team that drafted you your first time. At the time you turned him down but here you are playing for Francona several years later. Have you guys talked about that? What’s it like playing for Terry?

Yan Gomes: That’s funny! I didn’t even think about that.

Rick: Yeah, he was with the Red Sox when they drafted you that first time.

Yan Gomes: I hadn’t even thought about that. I mean, I was a 39th rounder that year, I don’t think my odds of making it to the majors was very realistic at the time, so we don’t even really remember that. Playing for Terry is pretty amazing. A lot of people know about him, a lot of people hear about him, the kind of guy that he is, what he’s done, it seems. And, yeah, I have heard all of that. He’s the players coach, and this and that, but once you get to play for him, it is that and much more. You get to see his personality every day and you get to see why he’s the player’s coach, like everybody says. It makes it so much fun to play for him and I think that’s really important for a team trying to build and trying to make the playoffs run or an organization trying to change their culture. I think that our GM, Chris Antonetti, making that move to hire him, it was a big deal. It showed that we were ready to change and showed the kind of guy Terry is. And it makes it so much fun that you make it personal to win for that guy. In my mind, that’s the way I see it. I make it really personal to win for him because he cares so much about us, and we care about him…

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